


Training II: Teacher's teacher

by Lwoorl



Series: DC Shifters AU [10]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Transformation, shifters au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 10:28:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17242607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl
Summary: Someone had to teach Dick how to be good at shifting before he was actually good at it.Shifters AU: See notes of the series to know more, but all you need to know is some people can turn into objects and they're called shifters





	Training II: Teacher's teacher

**Author's Note:**

> Oh yeah!!! I finished this right on time for this to be the last fic of the year!!!! Yey me!!!
> 
> Listen I will be honest with you guys, this is an info dump disguised as fluff. I was writing other installment for this series, when I just realized "Wait, wait fuck, I actually have to explain how this works before I actually use it. Fuck fuck" So, this is that, an explanation for a bunch of stuff.  
> From now on I won't explain anything that's already been shown here, so, yeah. You might want to read it. But then again, if you can just go "Welp, I guess that just happened." Or "I don't really need an explanation for this." in the future, feel free to skip, I guess.

As soon as his hand reforms Dick darts towards the chronometer, almost falling from his bed as he does it. He clicks the button and looks at the little screen marking 4.84 seconds.

“Yes!” He cheers. The kid climbs out of his bed and puts his shirt and shoes back on, before running towards Bruce's sturdy.

“Bruce, can I go visit uncle Clark this weekend?!” 

  
  
  


There's a knock at Lois’ door. She looks at the timer, still 20 minutes left for the lasagna to be ready. Should be enough time to attend the door and come back before it burns.

She checks through the peephole. It's Clark. Lois hasn't even fully opened the door as a bouncing eleven years old squeezes himself inside her house and hugs her waist.

“I did it! I did it in less than five seconds!”

“Oh, hi Dick.” She returns the hug, at first just placing a hand on the kid's back, then, when he doesn't let go, actually hugging him by the middle and briefly lifting him from the ground, this way Dick's finally satisfied and-... Uh, no, the kid is still hugging her… She pets his head and… No, he still doesn't let go... She will just, let him stick there for now… Yeah. Yeah, that's ok.

“Sorry for bringing him without warning.” Clark apologies as he moves to un-stick the hug monster. Dick lets him pull his hands away from her and Lois is free again. “I thought he was actually gonna spend time with  _ me _ this time.” He adds sheepishly.

“Oh, don't worry, I was the one who said he could come anytime, didn't I?” She jokes. 

She shouldn't have said he could come anytime. But this is like the fifth surprise visit from the kid since she did, there's no backpedaling now.

Besides, she has to admit she kind of enjoys spending time with the little firecracker.

“Hey, it so happens I was cooking a new recipe, and you know I always make extra to share with the neighbors when I try something new, why don't you stay for supper?” She asks Clark. He smiles at her and she smiles back.

“I would love to-” 

“You can't!”

Lois is taken aback by Dick's interruption, and, given Clark's confused expression, he too. Both of them look down at the kid.

“This is The Super Secret Shifting Training Session!” Dick declares, inflating his chest, throwing his arms up and making a face like this is really important stuff. “Koppigs aren't allowed!” He points an accusatory finger at Clark.

Lois stares, blinks, and then covers her mouth with a hand to stop herself from laughing.

“Hey” Clark protests at seeing her reaction. He tries to sound offended, but he's smiling too.

“Oh, come on Smallville, don't be jealous your nephew likes me more than you.” She says as she places a hand on his shoulder. Clark raises an eyebrow and she just shrugs like saying 'What can one do?’

“Ok, ok” He sighs “I will be going then.” 

Clark bends down to give Dick a hug. The kid puts his arms around his neck and Clark ruffles his hair.

“Bye, uncle Clark!” Dick happily exclaims, waving as Clark moves to open the door, as if he wasn't the one who just kicked him out.

“I will come back to pick him up in four hours, is that ok?”

“Sounds good.”

“You can call me if anything happens.”

“Yes, yes. See you later Clark.”

She leans to give him a quick peek on the mouth and shushes him out. When she turns back from closing the door she's face to face with Dick looking at her with these huge excited eyes, almost vibrating out of his skin. “Training?” He asks. She can't help but snort.

“Uh-uh, food first.” He pouts and makes some amazingly effective puppy dog eyes. She just walks past him towards the kitchen, touching his arm on the way. “Come on, I got a lasagna to save from burning alive.”

She gets the food from the oven. The crust on top is crispy and golden and the whole thing smells like heaven. When she cuts in it oozes with cheese and tomato paste. A sliced mushroom sticks to the knife when she puts it away and Lois can physically feels her mouth melting into drool. 

Dick helps her to serve two portions and then to set aside some more to bring the neighbors later. Soon, they're stuffing their mouths with creamy chicken lasagna, barely making conversation, zoomed into the food as they are.

“You should just marry Clark already.” The kid casually comments as she's taking a sip from a glass of blueberry juice. 

Lois spits her drink. 

Luckily she's able to look away as to not ruin the food, or her clothes, or Dick's clothes. 

“Say what?!” She exclaims, placing her glass back on the table “Why would I  _ ever _ marry Clark Kent?!” 

Dick looks between her face and the little puddle of juice she will have to mop later, before swallowing the food he has in his mouth and calmly putting down the fork.

“I mean, you're… Dating, right?”

“No!”

Dick arches an eyebrow and she feels defensive all of the sudden, which is stupid because this is a goddamn  _ kid  _ she's arguing with.

“I  _ saw  _ you kissing.”

“It isn't- I don't- It was  _ once!” _

“It didn't look like it was the first time.”

“Ok, so maybe a couple of times, but it isn't like that!”

“You sure he isn't your boyfriend?”

“Of course he isn't!”

Dick tilts his head and gives her a look like he's calculating something. Then there's some kind of realization in his eyes and he snaps his fingers. “Oh! Friends with privileges!”

“ _ Oh my God _ ” 

Lois puts her face in her hands and lowers her head towards the table. Why is this happening to her? Why is she having this conversation?  _ Thank fucking God Smallville didn't stay for supper. _

“I'm just saying.” Dick continues as if he didn't say  _ what he just did _ , barely pausing a second to push more lasagna in his mouth. “If you moved together I wouldn't have to ask Uncle Clark to bring me here for training, I could just visit you both!”

She separates her hands from her face and narrows her eyes at him. “Or you could tell your dad who you're actually going to visit.”

The way the kids eyebrows knit is automatic, his eyes moves to the right and his head sinks into his shoulder as his face slowly puckers. Lois is half curious to see how much can the kid make his face collapse into itself, but decides to spare him when his shoulders surpasses his ears.

“Ok, I get it, not telling your dad.”

His face immediately recompose, and both of them very consciously ignore the awkward conversation they just had in order to going back to dig into their plates.

“So, you told me you did the whole cycle in less than five seconds?” She prompts as they finish doing the dishes. 

“I have done it three times now!” 

“Oh, really? That's great!” 

“The tips you gave me really helped!” The kid energetically nods. “Can we do training now? Please?”

Lois feels the corner of her lips turning up despite herself. She can't deny the enthusiasm of the kid is contagious. It reminds her a bit of herself, when she was younger.

“Ok little man, help me clear the living room so we can start.” 

“Yes ma'am!”

Dick does a little cute salute and then darts out of the kitchen. When Lois follows him the kid's already started pushing the couch away. She joins him before he breaks something, and soon they got a pretty ample space to practice.

“So, you said you could do it pretty fast now. Show me.” Lois asks as they're sitting in the middle of the now empty living room, after she took the time to change her clothes to the special ones that can shift.

Dick just had to take off his jacket because Clark's brother is somehow rich enough to buy most of his kid's clothes from WE’s shifter branch. It does  _ not _ make Lois think bitterly about her teenage years, fucking around in her room practicing changing tricks, wearing nothing but the shifting underwear she saved like three months to buy. Nope, not at all. Not even for a second.

“When I say go… Ready, set, go!”

The kid takes a mouthful of air and then dissolves into light. It takes him around six seconds to finish the whole thing.

“I swear I can do it in five!” He blurts as soon as he can talk, and Lois doesn't have time to say anything before he's doing it again, the second time it takes him eight.

“I can do it, really!” 

“Dick, it doesn't-” She can't finish before he's shifting once more. Again, it takes him a bit more than five seconds. She sighs.

“You don't really-”

“Just one more! I will get it right this time!” He promises, holding both hands up. “I swear I did it before, once without pants and then twice with all my clothes-”

“Dick, it's ok. Five seconds was just an approximation, you were fast enough.”

“-I just need to concentrate and- Oh... Ok.”

Dick's shoulders drop as he calms down. It's cute, the way he cares so much about improving his skills, to prove he's improving, but also, if she didn't have eaten something before, this the kid's energy would quickly give her a headache.

“So… We can move to the next thing?” He asks quietly, and looking so hopeful she kinda wants to mess with his hair until it looks like a bird nest.

She isn't planning to marry anytime soon, not Smallville nor anyone else, but she thinks she wouldn't mind having a kid of her own someday, she's always had a soft spot for children.

“We can move to the next thing.” She confirms and the kid smiles from hear to hear. “Ok, so. Getting the hold on how to shift properly is pretty much all based on two things: Speed and control.”

The kid nods. “Right. And we've been doing speed, so… Now we're gonna do control?”

“Yes and no.” She answers. Dick tilts his head in confusion.

“Gaining speed is hard because it needs practice, even after you figure out the triggers than best work for you.” She elaborates “Control is a thing we already do subconsciously, it's how you decide the position you wanna take. Like, you don't really think if you want to be when you shift. It's a thing we just  _ do _ .”

“I… Hmmm.”

“So the hard part isn't that, the hard part is to controlling the position you take while  _ also _ doing it quickly, that's what we're going to focus on now.” 

Dick sends her an insecure look, biting the inside of his cheek. Lois decides maybe a demonstration would be good. She stands up and walks to one side of the room, placing a hand on the wall while separating his legs a little, the left foot touching the wall.

“Now, I will do it slowly and then fast. Pay attention.”

She looks at the other side of the living room. It should take about eight jumps. She imagines joining her hands and slowly, taking around twelve seconds, shifts into a pen, sitting where her right foot was. Then stops for a moment, and does it again. This time when she shifts to human her left foot is where she was as a pen, effectively having moved about meter or so. She repeats it again and again, until she touches the other wall. 

“See? I just moved from one extreme to another without taking a step.” 

Dick has a hand under his chin, as if thinking something, his eyebrows drawn in concentration. 

“Now I will do it really fast.” She warns. “Don't look away.” 

Once she's sure Dick's looking at her she separates her legs again and looks firmly to the opposite wall.

She wants to do this really, really fast, faster than normal, because someone's watching. Her normal time is around 0.6 seconds per cycle, maybe 0.4 if she isn't in a fight, but her  _ absolute best _ so far is around 0.05. She isn't naked, so she probably won't do it  _ that _ fast, but if she  _ really _ concentrates she might be able to push it to 0.3.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She thinks of the eight jumps, and of reaching the other wall. Then she imagines rubbing her hands together, she imagines it so hard she can physically feel it, but doesn't let go yet. She thinks of rubbing faster and faster, resisting the shift for around twenty seconds, even if it feels longer, she doesn't let her body change yet. She needs a  _ little bit more _ . Ten seconds more, half a minute visualizing should be more than enough to push it. Nine, eight, her arms feel itchy, seven, six, her legs shake, five, four, three, her head hurts a little, two, her flesh wants to dissolve into energy. _ One. _

She feels the wall against her hand and opens her eyes, having crossed to the other side of the room. She turns around and sees little Dick Kent with his mouth hanging open and Lois has to bite her lips not to chuckle.

“Ok, now you.” She calls, gesturing for Dick to come towards her. The kid looks insecure for a moment before marching forward.

“Repeat the cycles until you touch the other wall.” She instructs, pointing at the other side. “Just do it as I did, Right foot, shift, left foot. It's going to take longer than doing it without a change on position, but that's a matter of practice.”

Dick gives her those insecure eyes again, but she just returns a confident smile before taking a step back. “Don't worry for the time, just concentrate on crossing the room.” The kid hesitates a mental before he nods and separates his legs, left against the wall.

Dick shifts, but as a grapnel he isn't where he's supposed to, taking the position of his right foot. Instead he's against the wall. Now, that's wrong. 

Dick shifts back, his mouth a thin line, and then shifts again. This time he's a bit to the right, but, not nearly enough. He does it again and again and again, taking almost a whole minute just to light up, and finally after almost ten tries he's where his right foot was before, but when he shifts back he's standing exactly where he was before changing, left foot against the wall.

“What's wrong Dick?” She asks, walking towards the kid a placing a hand on his shoulders. “You don't need to hurry, just focus on the position.” The kid shakes his head, harshly.

“Miss Lane, I can't” He croaks.

“...What?”

“I can't!” The kid exclaims, his eyes watery and Lois…

Lois suddenly remembers the time her sister almost stabbed her hand because she shifted in a way Lois was holding the blade and not the handle. 

And the time when she heard an actress complain how hard it was to shift on the table she had her hand on, instead of the floor where she was standing.

And the time she was trying to teach her classmates the game she's using right now to train Dick, and all the kids said it was too hard, even after she promised to go slowly.

And the time her dad was really surprised she made her way into the attic by just putting a hand pass the door and then shifting inside.

And the time-

Oh, shit, Lois always thought  _ everyone _ were able to control the position without thinking, but it's only now that she realizes:  _ She's the weird one. _

A tiny, little hiccup brings Lois out of her thoughts.

Oh  _ fuck _

“Oh no, no, please don't cry Dick.” She kneels in front of the boy. He isn't crying, but it's obvious it's only because he's trying not to. His lips quiver and his shoulders shake as he looks at the floor and Lois feels like shit. 

“I can't do it.” The kid lets out, his voice breaking as he speaks. She tries rubbing his back. 

“It's ok, that's ok. Don't worry, that's fine.” 

“It's not!” He shakes his head, violently. “You said  _ everyone _ can! That I shouldn't need to even think about it!  _ I'm bad at this _ !”

Crap.

“I- I was wrong! A ton of people can't do it so easily!”  _ Apparently no one but her _ , she thinks, wanting to slap herself.

“But-!”

“No, no buts! It's ok Dick, really!” She puts her arm around the kid's shoulders and pulls him gently against her chest. That should be ok, right? 

It takes a moment, but soon enough he calms down and she lets him go. Dick rubs the back of his hand against his eyes and mutters. “I wasn't crying!”

“Of course you weren't.”

There's a beat of silence just a bit too long until Dick asks. “So… What now?”

What now indeed.

The practice she thought of… Probably won't work that well now that she knows not everyone just, well, _ knows _ how to do it. They might figure something out of it, like how they figured out the best way for Dick to shift by trying different stuff before, but she actually had a plan and helpful advice to give that time.

“How about… We go over some theory?” She proposes “It might help to give you some ideas on what mental image to have.”

Honestly Lois isn't sure how to go from here. It's always come naturally for her how to do that part, if she wants to do a handstand as she shifts to human, she can just do it, but she hopes they can figure something out.

“Ok, so.” She says as they're both back at sitting on the floor, with a notebook and some markers. “Tell me all you know about shifters, you probably learned some stuff at school already, right?”

“Like… Historically or?”

“Like, biologically, or physically. How shifting works.” Dick gives her a shrug “Come on, surely you got to know something.”

“Well, I haven't really heard anything about that at school, but Br-” He pauses, just long enough for Lois to notice. “But, my dad told me there are two major theories about it, one that said something about having two bodies that interchange places or something, and we just don't know where they go when we shift, and other that says we only have one that disintegrates and rebuilds itself anytime we do it, both are kinda creepy.”

“Well, that's a start.” There's also another popular one, but she can see why Dick's dad didn't include it since that one basically implies they don't have a soul. She supposes she can avoid it too. “So, we got these explanations, and both explain some stuff, but not all. For example, if we really got two bodies that explains why our human form still ages when we're an object, but it doesn't explain how come we keep injuries from one form to another or why the object changes as we grow up. I like the other one because we  _ do  _ feel when we're in the light stage, but one would need way too much energy to turn matter into energy and then matter again, not to mention it doesn't explain why our bodies remain the same after we build them again.”

“So basically we don't know.” 

“... Basically, yes.”

“This is why I don't like studying theory for this.” The kid huffs while crossing his arms over his chest. “It's all  _ maybe _ and  _ probably _ and  _ possibly _ and  _ inconclusive _ and at the end it doesn't help at all to get good at it. Might as well just say it's all magic and give me actually useful tips.”

Lois winces a bit at that, yeah, studies on it is kind of… Flimsy, but she isn't sure where else to look at on how to teach the kid something she didn't have to learn.

“Ok, so let's move from that and look at what we do know, sounds good?” 

“I guess…”

“So, there's still some debate on what happens when we shift but-”

“Figures.”

“-Its agreed there are some steps for the process of shifting that definitively exist.”

Dick's attention seems to perk a little at that. She takes the chance and draws a stick figure and a pair of scissors on the notebook. 

“Ok, so. First you got one of the bodies.” She says, pointing at the stick figure. “And Hollywood loves to get this wrong, but there isn't any connection between both until we shift.”

“How so?”

“Like…” She tried to think of an example. “Have you seen The thousand hours in earth?”

“No, but I've heard of that movie. That it was bad.”

“It is bad.”

“Oh.”

“Ok so.” She points at her chest. “In that movie the main character has a tattoo on his chest, and when he turns into a shield it appears right at the middle of it. So, at the end he's a shield and someone pierces him right at that point, not majorly breaking him, just doing a little hole there, and he just immediately dies.”

“And they said it was because they pierced his heart.” Dick finishes. Yeah, that's kind of a common trope, no wonder the kid figured it out.

“In reality it wouldn't actually kill him, unless he shifted to human, in which case, yeah, I guess he would get a stab injury on the chest, but it shouldn't have been too serious as a shield.”

“I think I know what you mean now.” The kid says. “It's like when in a movie someone says they get ticklish as an object, or some knife says they're touching their butt when someone picks them up, even though it really doesn't work like that.”

“Yup, I don't know if you've gotten this, but it's like when someone asks you which part is your arm or where are they touching you, and I just want to tell them that it really isn't like that, if you're touching the barrel you're touching the barrel and I feel it on the barrel, why would it be anything else?” She takes the red marker and draws a =\= between both drawings.

“Actually, yes, I got that before!” The kid exclaims, leaning forward. “Even my parents used to ask that! No, a rope is a rope and a leg is a leg, why would they be related?! It's not like when I touch your knee you feel it on your elbow! What even does Wally mean when he says he won't hold me for fear of touching my butt?!”

“Really, you can tell when a koppig wrote something as soon as parts of a thing get compared to parts of a human, if you want to say the handle hurts just say the handle hurts, you wouldn't talk about headaches to describe a heartburn. Right?”

“Right!” The kid nods, sounding just as offended as she. Then both of them start laughing. 

“Ok, so. Yeah, there isn't something like a permanent 1:1 relation between body parts.” Lois continues once they calm down. “But you got to make a connection when you shift, otherwise the injury on the tattoo wouldn't appear specifically on the chest.” 

“It's called, uh, a significator, right?” 

“Yes, it is! Look at you, I knew you knew some stuff!” She complements. Dick scratches the back of his neck, a bit embarrassed. “You don't connect both forms until you're shifting, but once you do you can force it to connect some stuff, so if you get a tattoo and then shift to a shield and it appears right at the middle, now the tattoo's always going to stay there in both forms, so if someone hurts you there as a shield, it's going to appear on your chest as a human, that's a significator. It also applies to scars or even if you have some paint on you, that's also why if you ever get hurt as an object nurses are going to ask you not to immediately shift back to make sure, say, a scratch isn't going to translate into slicing your throat.”

“But I once saw someone who didn't do that. Like, she asked you to draw stuff on her face, then turned into a hat and when she shifted back she had the ink on her hand.”

“Well, yeah, you can, theoretically, do that with any significator but scars, but that would take way too much practice, so why would you do that? The only practical use I can see it is to scape from the police's handcuffs.”

“...Hmmm.” 

“Hey, now, quit that face, when are you gonna end on a situation where you have to take a pair of shifter handcuffs off? You're eleven.”

“Right.” 

“Ok, so, first you have just the body.” She says, circling the stick figure. “Then next step when you start shifting is you make one or two connections if there's stuff you need to translate.” She marks an X on the stick figure 'sup chest and then another one on the scissors and connects them with a line. “Then you pick a point around of which you're gonna shift. The light concentrates there and forms your body around there.” She makes another X with a different color on the stickman's feet and then again on a random part of the scissors. “You get a point from the object, a point from the human and connect them. Usually as a human it's the feet, that's why you're placed on the floor instead of just appearing in the middle of the air and fall to the ground when you shift, or why you don't appear with your face against the ground. Also I  _ think  _ for swords and knives it tends to be the handle, but don't quote me on that.” She draws the stickman again, doing a handstand. “And then you just chose a pose and the light will take that form when shaping you.”

“So, with the thing earlier.” Dick gestures behind him with his head, to nothing in particular. “You basically shifted centered on a foot, then on the other, and so on?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“...But, I can't do that.”

The statement comes off as neutral, not at all like the panic from before. It's a relief.

“Well, you have to be able to control it at least a little, you don't land on your face when you shift, and you have to be able to at least decide if you want to be sitting or standing, right?”

“Yes, but… I don't think I can do anything too specific, and I'm not sure I know how I do the few things I can. It's, intuitive, I guess?”

“Yeah, it certainly is…” Which is the problem. Just shifting, by itself, that's a thing one can practice, it has a very specific trigger, but deciding the position you want to take, that's more like… Like a feeling, she supposes. 

“I will go make a call, wait here a second.”

“Uh, ok.”

She walks into the kitchen and calls from there.

“Hi, who's this?”

“Hi, Lucy? It's me, Lois.”

“Oh! Hey, what's up?”

“So, remember when you almost stabbed my hand when we were kids?”

“...Yes?”

“But you got better at controlling it, right? You got good enough to play the skipping game with me and all.”

“I suppose, why do you ask?”

“How?”

“Hm?”

“How do you learn to control it? Do you have any tips for that?”

She hears laughter from the other end.

“Hey, now. I'm serious.”

“Sorry, it's just,  _ you _ are asking for advice on how to shift?”

“Not for me, I'm teaching a kid on that.”

“Wow… If you're his teacher he's going to be a beast at it.”

“Not if I don't know what to teach him.” She frowns, even though no one's seeing her.

“You will do fine. Now, I don't know if it works for everyone, but I know some friends do something similar so maybe it does.”

“And that is?”

“I try to imagine I'm made of water and try to move so I can take the shape I want.”

“...That's it?”

“Yeah. You need to think like light, or, I guess water, in my case, so I just imagine the position as vase in which I'm going into.”

“Hm.”

After Lucy's advice it goes a bit more smoothly. They go back to trying to practice with the skipping game, and after one or two hours of that Dick's been able to take two decent jumps once or twice, but he loses after that.

Lois leaves the kid to his practice as she goes to the kitchen and makes herself some coffee and cocoa for Dick. When she goes back to the living room Dick's sitting on the floor, back against the wall, looking at the other side of the room as if it was his worst enemy. When he sees her he jumps a bit and avoids her face.

“Now, what're you doing?” Lois asks as she sits next to the kid and hands him his beverage.

“I, um, wanted to try extending my rope to the other side of the room.”

“Oh-  _ Oh!  _ If you do that you can just shift back standing at the other side and skip the whole room in one jump, is that what you're trying to do?”

“Um, yeah.” Dick nods, not really making visual contact. His face seems a little pink.

“That's a great idea, Dick!” She exclaims, and if Dick's face wasn't pink before, it sure is now, the blush even extends to his ears and he tries to hide it by pressing the mug against his face. “I mean it, if you really get the hang of it you could skip long distances easily.” 

“Yeah, I. that's what I was thinking. Is it, um, ok if I keep trying that instead?”

“Sure.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

She leans a bit more close to the kid and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, we're totally different objects.”

“Hmh.”

“So the tricks we use are gonna be different. I can teach you the basics, but if you ever think 'Hey, it might work better for  _ me _ if we do it  _ this  _ way!’ don't hesitate to stop and say that.”

“...Sure.”

The kid still doesn't sound too convinced so she whacks him on the head.

“Ouch?!”

“Hey, now. I mean it. I'm little and kinda fragile, so I mostly use it to change positions quickly and evade punches and hits, and try to stay an object the least I can, my entire fighting style is based on the that. You're bigger, and sharper, and got a rope, obviously you're going to be able to do stuff I can't and some of my tricks won't work as well with you, it's really great you're thinking how to use yourself.”

Dick's face gets really red as she speaks, and he just sort of brings his legs up and hides it against his knees, holding his mug over his head.

“I don't know, something like saying you based how you fight on being a shifter.” Dick says. It comes muffled against his knees. “I don't think I would, shifting is hard.” 

“Hey, why would you even  _ need _ a fighting style?” The kid shrugs. “I was just giving an example, it's not like you need to include it into everything you do or anything, it's just nice, you know? Learning how to use yourself, by yourself.”

“I guess.” The kid peeks his head out and slips a bit of cocoa before going back to pressing it against his legs. “I still think I would like more using it to helping other people but, yeah, it sounds nice being able to do stuff by yourself.”

“Hey, personally I think it's easier to do stuff alone than with other people.” She shrugs. “But you know what they say, I guess we're just predisposed to helping others.”

Dick raises his head and throws her a dirty look. “My mom said that was army propaganda.” He groans. Lois stares at him for half a second and bursts out laughing.

“Oh my God, that's the best expression I've ever heard to describe it!”

“Hey, I mean it!”

“I do too! I'm serious, I'm stealing it, I'm using it from now on!” 

Dick huffs and pulls from his ear, his face is so completely red now. It's sweet.

“So anyway, ready to going back to training?” She asks, taking a long sip from her coffee. Dick nods and finishes his cocoa in the gulps.

The rest of the session passes quietly, with she sitting next to Dick as the kid tries to do the trick, chatting from time to time, but mostly focusing on the practice.

He doesn't really advance that much, he's barely able to throw the rope a couple of meters around him, and in fact in one case he ended, somehow, accidentally tying it around himself thigh enough he actually couldn't shift back and Lois had to help him to untangle that mess, which is also why she made him promise he won't try practicing the trick without supervision, to Dick's obvious discontent. 

Soon the afternoon's flied by without realizing it and Clark's knocking at the door.

“-And if you don't have enough space just draw a mark on a wall and practice shifting with your finger placed on top of it.”

“Got it!”

The kid gives her a quick hug and then begins walking towards the door, when Clark stops him placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Aren't you forgetting something?” Clark asks.

“Wha- Oh! My jacket!” The kid exclaims, and then runs back inside to look where he left it.

“He seems energic, did it went well?” Clark comments, a smile on his lips.

“When  _ isn't _ he energic?”

“Good point.”

“It went well, I left him homework to practice at home and all.”

“You sound like a teacher.” He says, raising an eyebrow and smirking. She slaps his shoulder.

“Hey, I  _ am _ a teacher, sorta, better do it right, don't you think?”

“It's really sweet you offered to teach the kid without anyone asking you.”

She has to stop at that and… Stare. “What?”

“What?”

“ _ You _ offered I would teach him.” She frowns. “He just showed up one day saying his uncle dropped him there.” 

Clark's eyebrows shot up. “What? No way, I would never do that without asking you. He said you offered to teach him!”

“Found it!” Dick returns, jacket around his shoulders. Clark and Lois look at each other and then down at the kid. Having the same realization at the same time.

_ This little evil master of manipulation _

  
  
  


Bruce isn't a bad teacher, really, he isn't. But it's just… Well, Dick isn't sure if it's because he isn't a shifter or what, but Bruce's lessons tend to be so… Theorycal. 

He will sit for hours listening how stuff  _ should  _ work and how it  _ should  _ feel, but there's really no way Bruce can give him any real useful tips for him to apply, what with being a koppig and all. At best he will give an advice from a book, or ask someone who's a shifter about it, but it's like he doesn't dare to say something coming from himself, maybe worried he will mess his training up.

Again he isn't a bad teacher. In fact, it's actually impressive the man's got such a good understanding of the stuff as he does, it's almost as if he did get how it's like.

Almost.

He's asked Alfred too, and in theory his first hand experience should make up for Bruce's lack of, but it doesn't. The butler will always just either say something like 'It's different for everyone’ or share something so unique to the way he does that it's pretty much useless for Dick.

Really, is it a surprise he's skipping his meditation session ('Meditation doesn't work for me Bruce! Not for this!’) to take a walk? No, it isn't.

He's walking around the city, when he sees something on the corner of his eyes. Quickly he walks back and peers inside the alley he just passed by.

There's a woman, surrounded by three men. It takes him a second but Dick recognizes her, she's uncle Clark's girlfriend. Lois Lane, if he remembers correctly.

“Now, listen up lady reporter, this is how it's gonna be!” One of the tugs shouts as he holds one of Lois’ wrists, holding it up and pinning her against the wall behind her.

Normally Dick would immediately jump into action, costume or not costume, but… There's something on her face. Like she isn't scared, or even worried, but merely annoyed at a passing inconvenience. 

Quickly, too fast for the men to process, there's a flash of light and the woman appears standing next to the man who was holding her. “What the-?” 

_ ‘Oh, she's a shifter’  _ Dick realizes.

Another guy tries to punch her, but there's another flash and now her head is under the man's fist. She elbows him on the stomach, and as he's about to grab her arm she just shifts again out of his grasp. 

She swings one leg under the third man, who's only now joining the fight, kicking one of his feet of the ground, then another flash of light and now she's behind him, kicking the other feet, making him fall. One of the other two tries to hit her, and she shifts once more, now she has one hand on top of his shoulder. The alley lights up again and suddenly she's standing where her hand was, effectively making the guy fall with her weight. 

The combat continues like this, anytime they're about to touch her Lois just shifts out of the way, quickly changing position and direction to hit one of them, then going back to evading. It looks like a strobe light.

It doesn't take long before all the men are on the ground. When Lois looks at where he is Dick just hides behind a dumpster, and then waits for her to walk out. 

He looks as uncle Clark's girlfriend disappears from his sight, then looks back at the alley, where the tugs lie, knocked out and he feels the corners of his lips turn up.

It seems like maybe he just found a teacher.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I just love Lois Lane a ton ok? So I might or might not be using this au to let her be a fucking beast. Can you blame me?
> 
> As always, I beg you to leave a comment, no matter how tiny!! I write breath and live for the feedback!!!  
> Also remember you can always send me prompts to [my Tumblr](http://lwoorl.tumblr.com), it can be for this AU or just about anything, or just shot me a message anytime, I swear I don't bite!!


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